Method of forming silo tiles



Feb. 14, 1933. w. BRASSERT ET AL METHOD OF FORMING SILO TILES OriginalFiled April 9, 1929 I I oIIIIIIIlllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllAfter/lays Patented Feb. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WALTERBRASSERT, OF KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN, AND GLENN V. GLADVILLE, OF

IBLOOMFIELD, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS T0 CONCRETE SILO COMPANY, OF BLOOMFIELDINDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA METHOD OF FORMING SILO TILES Originalapplication filed April 9, 1929, Serial No. 358,848. Divided and thisapplication filed. July 22,

This is a division of our application for a atent for Tile silos, filedApril 29, 1929, berial No. 358,848, and this invention relates to amethod of forming a silo tile by casting it with vertical edges ofapproximate bevel and then grinding said edges to the exact radialplanes of the silo for which the tile is intended.

We accomplish the above and other objects which will hereinafter appearby an embodiment which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich Fig. 1 is an elevation of a silo incorporating our invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on a larger scale on the line 22 of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on a larger scale on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. at is a perspective view of a silo block or tile showing theconcave groove in one of its vertical edges.

Fig. 5 is a like view showing the opposite edge of the silo blockshowing the placing ribs, at the channel edges; and

Fig. 6 is a top view of a modified form of silo block, of much lessthickness and solid, with a single horizontal groove to receive a singletongue of an upper or lower block.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views ofthe drawing.

1 are the silo blocks or tiles forming the walls of a round silo, and 2are the supporting hoops preferably of iron rod.

In the embodiment of our invention shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5, thereare two longitudinal hollow spaces 3, 3 one on each side of a centralweb 4. The two sides of each tile where they make vertical joints withad; jacent tile are beveled on radial planes of the silo, and formed ineach beveled side is a longitudinal central channel 10 and 11. Thechannel walls on one side are continued to form the sides of tongues 5,5. The channel on the other side is wide enough to receive the twotongues 5, 5, the function of which is to assist in the assembly of thetile units in the direction of the silo.

The upper end 6 of the tile is horizontal and square and is providedwith three parallel grooves 7, 7, 7, and the lower end 8 is Serial No.552,344.

parallel with end 6 and is provided with The tile may have but a singlehollowspace and for small and inexpensive silos the hollow space may beentirely omitted as shown in the modification, Fig. 6, in which thevertical edge channels are retained and single tongues and grooves areprovided in top and bottom'ends.

The tiles are placed in kilns on end, several tiers high, the tongues inone end fitting loosely into the grooves in the other end of the nextpiece above or below.

After the tile have been burned and glazed they are put through agrinding machine, in which all are ground to a uniform width. At thesame time they are given the correct bevel in accordance with thediameter of the silo for which they are intended. The amount of grindingnecessary is here reduced to a minimum: In the first place the grindingwheels only touch on the two protruding surfaces on the sides of thestaves; these need not be more than three-fourths of an inch wide each,and might be less, making a combined grinding surface one and one-halfinches wide only. If a ball and socket type of joint had been chosen,such as is commonly encountered in concrete slab silo construction andalso in the so called book tile, the grinding surface would be theentire width of the stave and the grinding operation would be much moreexpensive. We are further providing different sets of moulding dies forthe more common diameters of silos, such as ten feet, twelve feet, andfourteen feet. In this'way the tile are already approximately accurateas to bevel of sides when they come from the kilns, which greatlylessens the amount of corrective grinding necessary.

On the grinding machine the tile are moved across the flat faces of. twocarborundum wheels of identical diameter, mounted on and revolvingaround the same horizontal shaft.

The tile are held on the moving bed of the grinding machine at an anglefrom the vertical; this angle varies in accordance with the bevel towhich the tile are to be ground. Each wheel is approximatelythree-fourths of an inch wide and grinds one of the two protrudingnarrow faces at the sides of the tile. The longitudinal center of thetile is between the two grinding wheels and in this way the smalltongues 5, 5, shown on one side of each tile, adjacent to the groove,will not 7 be touched.

These small tongues 5, 5, as stated, merely serve to facilitate theplacing of tile in the silo wall. during construction. They have noother function and are not intended to add to the structural. strengthof the silo.

The structural strength is largely brought about by the fact that eachtile is a perfectly fitting keystone between the two tiles on eitherside of it. It is enhanced by the breakage of the horizontal joints in amanner shown in Fig.1, wherein the tile form spiral or oblique rows intwo directions as well as vertical rows.

reduce the area of the edges, burning and glazing the tiles, andgrinding the vertical edges on each side of the grooves to exact commonradial plane surfaces.

:2 The method of forming silo tiles which consists of casting tiles tohave vertical edges on approximate radial planes of the silo for whichthe tiles are intended, burning and glazing the tiles, and grinding thevertical edges to exact common radial plane surfaces. In testimonywhereof I afiix my signature.

l/VALTER BRASSERT. In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GLENN V. GLADVILLE.

In the illustration of the tile we show three grooves in the ends and itmust be understood that in ordinary silo construction it is necessaryonly to fill the inner groove with mortar or caulking material. In thosecases where it is very essential that all moisture be kept from enteringthrough the silo walls from the outside, it is best to fill the centerand outer grooves also. The same is true where a tank is built out ofthe tile for holding liquids.

WVhile the illustration shows a tile about four inches wide with adouble row of hollow spaces on either side of a center web, a narrowertile, with only one row of hollow spaces and only one or two grooves andridges'in the ends will answer the purposes especially for farm silos ofsmall average diameter. It is also contemplated to use a thin tilewithout hollow spaces and only one groove and ridge in the ends butotherwise shaped and beveled the same as the hollow tile hereindescribed as shown in Fig. 6.

It is to be noted that whatever material 12 is placed in the verticalopenings between adjacent tiles or such material as may be placed in anyor all of the horizontal grooves 7', the adjacent tiles are in physicalcontact tile against tile on each side of such material, and that thematerial does not separate the tile surfaces or carry any of the load ofthe tiles.

We claim:

1. The method of forming silo tiles which consists of casting tiles tohave vertical edges on approximate radial planes of the silo for whichthe tiles are intended, forming one or more vertical grooves in thevertical edges to

